William McMaster Murdoch

Dalbeattie

William McMaster Murdoch lived from 28 February 1873 to 15 April
1912. He was serving as First Officer on board the RMS
Titanic when it collided with an iceberg, and was among the 1,500 who
died when it subsequently sank. The wider picture in Scotland at the time is
set out in our Historical
Timeline.

William McMaster Murdoch was born in
Dalbeattie in
Dumfries and
Galloway. He was the fourth son of Captain Samuel Murdoch. William's
grandfather and four of his grandfather's brothers were also sea captains it is
is perhaps not surprising that he chose to follow in the family tradition.
After attending school in Dalbeattie, Murdoch became an
apprentice mariner with William Joyce & Co, of Liverpool.

In 1891 he passed his second mate's Certificate on his first
attempt. From May 1895 he served as First Mate on the Saint Cuthbert, which two years later sank in a hurricane
off Uruguay. During the years from 1900 to 1912, Murdoch worked for White Star
Line on a series of its vessels. In 1903, he met Ada Florence Banks, a 29 year
old New Zealand school teacher, while crossing the Atlantic. They were married
in Southampton on 2 September 1907. In May 1911, Murdoch was appointed First
Officer on the RMS Olympic, intended to be the
biggest passenger vessel of its day. She was only surpassed by her sister ship,
the RMS Titanic, and Murdoch found himself given
the post of First Officer for the Titanic's maiden voyage in April 1912.

Murdoch was the officer in charge on the bridge when an iceberg was
spotted at 11:39pm on 14 April 1912. Murdoch is generally believed to have
responded by ordering "Hard a'starboard" and setting the telegraph used to
communicate orders to the engine room to "Full Astern". To no avail, because 37
seconds after the iceberg was sighted, it was struck by the
RMS Titanic. When the order was later given to
abandon ship, Murdoch was in charge of the starboard evacuation and was last
seen attempting to launch one of the collapsible lifeboats. It is not certain
what became of him, though by one account he was washed into the sea during the
ship's final moments afloat. Some of the many film and TV depictions of the
sinking of the Titanic have shown Murdoch committing suicide as the ship sank,
though there is no evidence that he did so. There is a memorial in his honour
in his home town of Dalbeattie.